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Casinos try to duck anti-smoking laws

Casinos in Denver are trying to duck under anti-smoking regulations recently brought into place in Colorado, it has been reported.

Ameristar casinos has converted outside areas into special smoking rooms - and the state is allowing them to do so, according to The Denver Channel.

Smoking will become banned in casinos at the start of next year and owners had feared that it will affect their profits.

A spokesperson for Ameristar Heather Leigh estimated that about 50 per cent of gamblers smoke.

The allowance of outdoor smoking rooms has been condemned by anti-smoking groups, with Stephanie Steinberg saying that casinos are "undermining" the law.

Even if the rooms become commonplace, however, some gamblers are still not happy about the ban.

A Ms Reimer said: "I don't think it's fair."

"I mean, what if you're winning and all of a sudden you want a cigarette, you have to cash out and leave it."

Colorado has several dozen casinos, mostly centered around Black Hawk and Cripple Creek.